Eucatastrophe
A eucatastrophe is the sudden joyful turn near the end of a story that snatches a good ending out of apparent defeat.
Full definition of Eucatastrophe →:: COMPARE ::
EucatastrophevsDeus ex machina
The short answer
Both are sudden rescues, and the difference is whether the story earned it. Deus ex machina arrives from outside the story's logic and cheapens what came before. Eucatastrophe is the rescue the story had made possible all along and the reader had stopped expecting.
Side by side
| Aspect | Eucatastrophe | Deus ex machina |
|---|---|---|
| Arrives from | Inside the story | Outside it |
| Reader feels | Pierced | Cheated |
| Requires despair first | Yes | No |
| Coined by | Tolkien | Greek stagecraft |
What each one means
Deus Ex Machina
An improbable outside force nobody set up, which turns up and resolves a plot's difficulties — usually at the end. Originally literal: a god lowered onto the Greek stage by a crane to sort the story out.
Full definition of Deus Ex Machina →